October 15 - Early Season Start

It is the middle of October and the first World Cup is only one week away. There's not really much snow anywhere, but there are a few places with artificial snow on the ground. The first World Cup will be held in Dusseldorf in Germany, on an 800 loop of man-made snow on the banks of the Rhein. The main focus of the Australian Team this winter is to qualify athletes to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, and this is the first selection race. Paul Murray, Esther Bottomley, and Andrew Mock will contest this opening sprint event; other athletes on the team are preparing for distance races later in the season. This is a big year. A great deal of time, money, and energy has been invested since 2002, when no Australian cross country skiers competed at the Winter Olympics, and the current crop of athletes are aiming high. From now until January 24 the goal is to get between one and six athletes qualified for Torino. Of course the aim is also to produce great results at the Olympics, but unfortunately until the athletes are qualified they do not have the luxury of being able to focus only on Torino. The selection process for the Australian cross country skiers is outlined below. We will endeavour to post regular updates before and after every event - for those keen enough the results of the races can be seen live over the internet via the FIS site.

Qualification for 2006 Winter Olympics

Full details of the Selection and Nominations criteria for the Australian Team for Torino are available in the Selection Criteria for Major International Competitions section on this site. Here is a quick summary:

Selection for Torino will be made on an event by event basis. There are three performance standards under the Selection Criteria, A, B and C. These correspond to achieving results respectively within the top 20%, 60% and 80% of the starting field in World Cup events. For example, if there are 80 starters in an event, if an athlete finishes in place 48 or better then they are within 60%. Only the World Cup events in the exact same distance and technique as the Olympic events count for selection (except for the 30/50km event - as there is no World Cup event in this distance before the Olympics then the 15/30km event will be used). There are 12 Olympic events, 6 for each gender. Criteria C only applies if no athletes have qualified under A or B, and a maximum of one athlete per event may be selected. Under Criteria A only one result under the standard is required. For Criteria B and C, the athlete must achieve the standard in 50% of the races prior to the selection deadline on January 24. This is rounded up, so if three events are held then the athlete needs two results under the standard. For the Team Sprint, Criteria C doesn't apply.

Seven Australian athletes have been selected to the Shadow Olympic Team, which means that they have achieved the FIS selection criteria to compete on World Cup (120 FIS Points) and the IOC standard to compete at the Olympics. The following table indicates which athletes are trying to qualify in which event:

Event	Sprint Freestyle	10/15km Classic	Pursuit	30/50km Freestyle	Team Sprint Classic
Location/Date	Dusseldorf, GER - Oct 22; Sovereign Lakes, CAN - Dec 11; Nove Mesto, CZE - Dec 30	Beitostolen, NOR - Nov 19; Kuusamo, FIN - Nov 27; Otepaa, EST, Jan 7	Sovereign Lakes, CAN - Dec 10; Oberstdorf, GER - Jan 21	Val di Fiemme, ITA - Jan 14 (Note - 15/30km)	Canmore, CAN - Dec 18; Oberstdorf, GER - Jan 22
Athletes*	Paul Murray, Esther Bottomley, Andrew Mock	Ben Sim, Clare-Louise Brumley, Katherine Calder	Ben Derrick, Clare-Louise Brumley, Katherine Calder	Ben Derrick, Ben Sim, Katherine Calder, Clare-Louise Brumley	Paul Murray/Ben Sim (likely in Oberstdorf only)
# Of Results**	Two	Two	One	One	One

* Note that not all athletes will be competing in all events
** Number of results required to qualify for Torino under Selection Criteria B or C.

What are our chances?

The chances of Australian athletes qualifying under Criteria A are remote but not inconceivable. No Australian cross country skier has ever made it under 20% of the field in a World Cup, however in the last two years Paul Murray has had two results around 40% in classic sprints. Of the rest of the Shadow Team, Esther Bottomley was the closest to reaching the Criteria C standard in 2004/2005, with one result of 80% and one of 86.6%. The rest of the team have had some results outside of World Cup which could possibly be of a comparable standard to the 80%, but basically they have to achieve a higher standard on World Cup that they have ever achieved before. A tough aim, but also realistic considering the gains that have been made in recent years.

Here's to a successful season; best of luck to everyone involved and fingers crossed for some outstanding results!

Courtesy XC Files